Radio Station Defiantly Plays ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ For Two Straight Hours

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (CBS Local) — A Kentucky radio station is showing it’s support for a classic Christmas song, which has come under fire by the #MeToo movement.

WAKY in Elizabethtown played five versions of the song, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” for two straight hours Sunday morning.

“We’ve played this song for years, you know, this song is older than WAKY is. It’s almost 70 years old,” Joe Fredele, the station’s director of programming, told CBS Louisville station WLKY.

Other radio stations across the country pulled the song from their playlist after it was criticized as sending the wrong message about consent.

“We really need to think about the impact that songs have, not just ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside,’ but numerous songs that we decide to play on the radio,” said Amy Turner, the director of sexual assault services at The Center for Women and Families.

Fredele said he supports the #MeToo movement but does not see a problem with the holiday tune.

“This song is not about that. All it is, is a dialogue between a man and a woman going right through the song and at the end of the song, you hear them harmonize together, so they’re both agreeing basically,” Fredele explained.

The song was written by Frank Loesser in 1944. It was featured in the 1949 film “Neptune’s Daughter” and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1950.

“It’s just a fun way of saying, ‘Hey this our vote for that song. It’s a fun song. It’s a romantic song, don’t pick on it,'” Fredele explained.

While The Center for Women and Families does not have an official position on the song, Turner said she believes the controversy shows progress.

“The reason that there’s any sort of conversation is because there is a conversation about sexual assault and the treatment of women in particular,” Turner said.